Just when it seems we have finally figured out to write 2004 after whatever month and date we are talking about, we have to relearn another year. This year passed as quickly as past years have flown as we come to the end of yet another year.
There are always a number of deserving sports teams and individuals to politic around as the top sports story in the area of the year and 2004 was no different. Depending on whether your child was involved in which sport, will move you to consider one team or event against another. This survey is not meant to be definitive, but rather to give credit to the young athletes in our local area. The knowledge that every athlete in every sport always does his/her very best, whatever that best may be, although not always included in the story lines but is always in the hearts of athletes, parents, fans and the casual reader, if there be such an animal.
The top story for 2004 in Daily Herald land was the success of the Tyrone and Bellwood-Antis football teams and the honors accorded many of the individual football players by their respective leagues, coaches, sportswriters and friends and families.
The Tyrone football squad arrived into the 2004 season with great expectations, bolstered by an 11-2 mark in 2003 which included a trip into the PIAA playoffs and loads of experience and returning talent.
The Eagles began their season by thrashing backyard rival Bellwood-Antis 40-13 after building up a 40-0 lead. A victory over always-tough Huntingdon gave the Orange and Black their first 2-0 start for the first time since the state championship season in 1999. Lewistown (40-0) and Bald Eagle Area (35-6) were easily conquered.
Tyrone ran into a road block on their way to an undefeated season at Philipsburg-Osceola, where an early long-distance score and a blocked extra point in the fourth quarter spelled a 7-6 P-O victory.
That seemed to wake the Eagles up, or perhaps arouse would be a better description, because Tyrone stepped it up a notch to breeze through their final four regular season games demolishing Bellefonte (35-13), Bishop Guilfoyle in the Eagles’ annual Homecoming game (34-0), Indian Valley (41-12) and Penns Valley (40-6).
Total control must be the way to describe the Eagles’ trip through the District VI-AA playoffs. Tyrone earned a berth in the PIAA playoffs for the second straight year by bashing Purchase Line (56-13), Philipsburg-Osceola, in a long awaited rematch (34-0), and Bishop McCort in the district final (15-6).
In what the opposing coach described as just a speed bump on his team’s trip to the state championship in Hershey, Tyrone instead “bumped’ Seton-LaSalle (28-7) out of the picture completely, holding First Team All-State passing duo Bill Stull and Carmen Connolly to 11 completions for Stull and four catches for Connolly.
Although the Eagles were perhaps a paper-thin first down measurement from going to Hershey, Grove City sidelined the Eagles in a Western final contest 21-17, the fourth time in coach John Franco’s tenure at Tyrone, that the Orange and Black have gone to the Western finals.
Although football is a team game, individual efforts are a integral part of the game as well and although offensive and defensive line play makes it possible for quarterbacks, running backs and receivers to total up big chunks of yardage and linemen and skill people alike receive the honors due to them for their fantastic efforts and abilities.
Who can possibly forget Brice Mertiff’s back-to-back 200-yard performances with 200 against Penns Valley and then 234 yards a week later in the opening round of districts against Purchase Line. Ben Gummo booted three field goals to make the difference in a 15-6 win over Bishop McCort in the championship game, all with an injured plant leg. Leonard Wilson, who has passed for more than 2,000 yards in two years as a starter, with his senior season still to come in 2005, threw for 129 yards in the opening game against Bellwood-Antis and finished with 131 yards against Grove City. Mertiff kept other teams at bay when the Eagles had to punt, which wasn’t often, averaging over 35 yards per punt. Brit Mingle, who also will return in 2005, narrowly missed rushing for 1,000 yards and scored 19 touchdowns. Mingle gained 135 yards in the Bishop McCort game and 118 against Seton-LaSalle when it mattered most. Brit also rushed for over 100 yards in the Philipsburg loss (102) and in the Bellefonte game (108) a week later to help get the Eagles on the road again (108).
Terry Tate and Ralph VanAllman anchored an offensive line that included Mike Jones, Ronnie Miller, Jake Houck, Tad Chamberlain and others that blocked for an offense that rushed for 3,678 yards and passed for am additional 1,168 and scored 32 points per game.
Kaylee Fink was named Tyrone’s 2004 Homecoming Queen at the Bishop Guilfoyle game.
Tate, Brandon Maceno, Ben Gummo, Tad Chamberlain, and a host of others helped Tyrone dominate on the defensive side of the game as well. The Eagles allowed just under eight points per game and had given up just 90 points in the first 13 games prior to the Grove City contest. Only two teams scored more than one TD while the first team defense was in the game. Grove City was able to score three times, with the help of a dubious call by the officials.
Bellwood-Antis football was the Number two story of the year, although at the beginning, nobody would have believed it.
Bellwood-Antis was hammered by Clearfield in their final scrimmage and then Tyrone a week later in the season opener (40-13). Even though, it was evident these were two very good teams, few had much hope for John Hayes and his 2004 edition of the Blue Devils at Bellwood.
A number of early injuries seemed to compound the Blue Devils’ woes. Much of what experience the Blue Devils had was to be replaced by younger players with no or very little varsity playing time.
With the patient effort of the coaching staff and the quick emergence and maturation of several young inexperienced players, Bellwood-Antis was able to turn their season around.
The second week brought a 27-0 shutout over Penns Valley and a new spirit for the team. Bald Eagle Area fell 47-15 to give the Blue Devils a winning record, which they would continue to add on to. Mount Union was a speed bump that B-A was just barely able to overcome 17-14, providing a message for the young Blue Devils to overlook no one. Southern Huntingdon became the second team to be shut out by the B-A defense in a 28-0 win,
Going into the meatiest portion of their schedule, Bellwood-Antis faced the first of three straight weeks against teams that would have one loss total between the three of them when they encountered the Blue Devils.
After battling Philipsburg-Osceola toe-to-toe at Philipsburg, with neither squad giving an inch or a point, the game went into overtime. Starting from the BA-10, Philipsburg got seven yards on first down. The Blue Devil “D” held for two downs and forced P-O to kick a field goal. When B-A got their chance, sophomore tailback Josh Kleinfelter turned the left corner and dove into the end zone for a dramatic 6-3 win over previously undefeated P-O.
A week later, the Blue Devils rallied from 7-0 and 14-7 deficits to overtake Chestnut Ridge to hand the Lions their first loss (21-14).
The Blue Devils finished running their gauntlet with their victory over Moshannon Valley 23-0, handing the Knights their second loss of the season. Bellwood-Antis had marched through a contemporary Murderer’s Row of opponents and vanquished them all to win their seventh straight win of the season.
The B-A defense fashioned their fourth shutout of the year against Bishop Guilfoyle 14-0 to qualify for district playoffs.
In the playoffs, Bellwood-Antis crushed Laurel Valley 52-8 with Kleinfelter rushing for a school record 307 yards to help the Blue Devils set a total yardage mark of 635 yards. Undefeated Juniata Valley jumped out to a 14-0 lead, before B-A got going on both sides of the line of scrimmage to triumph going away 35-14. Back in the district final after being there three straight times (1999-2000-2001) and losing all three, Bellwood-Antis used special teams and passing, an unlikely combination for Bellwood-Antis, to subdue three-time defending champ Bishop Carroll 23-14, to win the District VI-A crown.
Camp Hill stopped the Bellwood-Antis season a week later, 27-14, as the Blue Devils became the first District VI Class-A team to play in the Eastern section of the newly configured PIAA state playoffs.
Josh Kleinfelter smashed the B-A sophomore rushing record by over 1,000 yards and became just the third Blue Devil runner to gain more than 1,600 yards (1,602). With 182 yards receiving and two of five pass completions for 64 yards, Kleinfelter takes the top spot at B-A in total yardage for one season with 1,848 yards. Kyle Drost took over when senior Zach Tomchick was injured and with very-little game experience guided the Blue Devils to five straight wins, before B-A fell to Camp Hill. Derrick Hoffer led the team in receptions with 18 for 266 yards, moving into the top five all-time at B-A in receiving yardage. Hoffer led all area 24 local teams in interceptions with seven, and also had 14 pass breakups. Travis Ehredt rushed for 702 yards and spent the majority of his time blocking for Kleinfelter.
Adam Martin, Dustin Hoffer Dwayne and Brandon Cherry and Tony DelGrosso blocked for a team that rushed for 2,542 yards and passed for 1,009.
The Blue Devils defense gave up 40 points to Tyrone in the opener, but finished the year third in the area in least points allowed, trailing only Juniata Valley and Tyrone. Four teams were shut out, Philipsburg scored only a field goal in overtime, and only Tyrone and Camp Hill were able to score more than twice.
With the closing of another page in the football programs of both local northern Blair County schools, came more honors.
Brice Mertiff (running back), Ralph VanAllman (tackle), Terry Tate (center) were three of just four unanimous selections to the Mountain Athletic Football Conference (MAFC) First Team All-Stars for Tyrone and Tate (defensive line) and Josh Crabtree (defensive back) were two of four unanimous picks on defense. Teammates Ron Miller (guard), Ben Gummo (wide receiver) and Tad Chamberlain (tight end) also were selected to the First Team Offense and Gummo (end) and Brit Mingle (linebacker) also made the First Team Defense for the Eagles. Mingle (running back), Leonard Wilson (quarterback), Jake Houck (guard) and Mike Jones (tackle) were picked to the Second Team Offense and Tyler Hoover (defensive line) and Brandon Maceno (linebacker) made the Second Team Defense.
Bellwood-Antis had Brandon Cherry (defensive line) Tony DelGrosso (linebacker) and Dustin Hoffer (defensive back) selected to the First Team MAFC Defense and the Blue Devils also had Second Team selections in DelGrosso (guard), Josh Kleinfelter (running back), Dustin Hoffer (tackle), Troy Brunner (tight end) and Derrick Hoffer (wide receiver) on offense and Brunner (end), Adam Martin (defensive line), Dwayne Cherry (linebacker) and Chris Edmiston (defensive back)
Bellwood-Antis also had Kleinfelter, Brunner, Dan Kovac and Dustin Hoffer selected to the First Team Inter-County Conference All-Stars on Offense and Martin, Brandon Cherry, Dwayne Cherry. DelGrosso and Derrick Hoffer on Defense. Travis Ehredt, Edmiston and Tyler Narehood made the Honorable Mention list.
The greatest honors are the All-State awards. This year Tyrone and Bellwood-Antis claimed two young and talented athletes each to be awarded Associated Press honors. Brice Mertiff (running back) and Terry Tate (defensive line) were both selected to the First Team All-State squad, while Bellwood-Antis was represented by Derrick Hoffer (defensive back) on the First Team and Dustin Hoffer (offensive line) was named to the Second Team.
The Altoona Curve comes in as the Number three story of 2004. After getting a taste last season when the 2003 Curve squad finished second in their division to qualify for the Eastern League playoffs, in 2004, Altoona put together a season-long party at the expense of the rest of the Southern Division to claim their first-ever division title.
With a pitching staff that included Ian Snell (11-7, 3.17 ERA), Bobby Bradley (5-4, 3.11), Bryan Bullington (12-7, 4.10), and Zack Duke (5-1, 1.56 with the Curve) and a lineup with the likes of Nate McLouth (.322 batting average), Chris Duffy (.309), Tom Evans (.308), Mike Moriarty (.303) and Brad Eldred, who batted .279 with 17 home runs and 50 RBIs in just a little over a month at Altoona), the Curve provided thrill after thrill during the 2004 season for the fans who filled Blair County Ballpark with a record 5,970 people per game during the year.
The Curve won the prestigious Larry MacPhail Award for their entertainment during the games, one of just a handful of Eastern League clubs to achieve that honor.
Although the season ended at Manchester with New Hampshire claiming the EL crown, manager Tony Beasley and General Manager Todd Parnell promise 2005 will be another great season in Altoona Curve history as each of the first six have been.
Tyrone grad Doug Roseberry, who began his college football as a walk-on at the University of Pittsburgh, not only got on the field, but was a regular on special teams, including playing personal protector for the Panthers’ punter. Roseberry was voted a team captain by the Pitt coaching staff for eight of Pitt’s 11 regular season games, and also for the Panthers’ Fiesta Bowl game on New Year’s night against Utah. Doug has a year of eligibility at Pitt and is already looking to playing for new head coach Dave Wannstedt. who will take over following the Fiesta Bowl game.
In George B. Kelley Federation baseball during the summer, the Bellwood-based Martin Oil team made the playoffs and upset McMullen Furniture in the opening round, but had their streak of three straight championships stopped.
Other area sports events and individuals that need to be mentioned include the Tyrone boys swim team with Eric Nulton winning a district title and qualkifying for states in his specialty, the 100 meter butterfly. The Bellwood-Antis girls volleyball team won their second straight MAC division title and finished second in the district and fifth in the state tournament. The Lady Blue Devils are undefeated for two straight seasons in league play. Tyrone won the district team title in wrestling and had Thadd Westley (second), Terry Tate (fourth) and T. J. Albright (eighth) earn medals at the State Tournament in Hershey. The Bellwood-Antis track and Field boys and girls teams both their MAC divisions. Tyrone’s Tom Crowl and Bellwood-Antis’ Allison Cherry led their respective genders in individual scoring in Track and Field as the top scorers in the MAC. Crowl and Cherry were both named to the MAC Track All-star Team in two events as were Tyrone teammates Emily Lloyd and Emily Ingle and Bellwood-Antis athletes Dan Houser and Erika Green.
